Decision: Go with Windows XP to start

 If we document the process well, it should only be a few hours extra work to create a new image with whichever operating system we want at a later time.  We will still need to test the new VM.

Windows XP

Pros

• Smallest footprint (fewest GB for base OS)
• Well understood
• All the applications run on XP
• Provides access to XP only apps on Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS
• Still maintained and supported by Microsoft
• Already tested by DUSP for this purpose
• Fairly robust and stable

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